Kanazawa (金沢) Preview

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Kanazawa (金沢) Preview

I am excited to be making an excursion this year to Kanazawa in Ishikawa Prefecture. It's my first time to the city and only my second time to the Japan Sea side of the country. Kanazawa was a seat of wealth and power throughout most of the Edo Era as it was the home of the Maeda clan, the second most powerful after the Tokugawa clan in Edo. The Maeda's were patrons of art and culture, and fine lacquerware, tea ceremony, and Noh theatre flourished. In stride with these traditions rose a grand culinary one as well. To put it simply, there is a lot to be excited about when it comes to dining in Kanazawa. Just reading up on I'm starting to draw a conclusion that it provides a kind of "perfect storm" of the essentials of Japanese cuisine- blindingly fresh seafood caught locally and sold at an impressive market, locally grown vegetables, a distinct regional cuisine, Kyoto-rivaling courtly traditions, a strong reputation for Japanese sweets, excellent rice, and superior sake.

------------------------Kaga Cuisine (加賀料理)----------------------Although a bit under the radar, all sources say that the local Kaga kaiseki cuisine rivals Kyoto in the use of seasonal and local ingredients and the refinement with which it is served. There's some tongue in cheek speculation that kaiseki developed in Kanazawa as a means to show off the fine lacquerware.

For a city of half a million, there seem to be several dozen establishments serving kaiseki, including many attractive ryokan. Prices can reach up to 30,000 YEN, but lunch service ranges closer to 5,000 for upscale places. I'm at a loss as to how to choose just from internet research, so I'll just post info about one stand alone place. Many of the ryokan in and around the city seem to have developed a good reputation for Kaga kaiseki as well.

Also under Kaga cuisine, there are a number of regional specialty foods I'll want to look out for as well:

Kabura-zushi (かぶら寿司)"Salted yellowtail (buri) fillets are sandwiched between the pickled turnip (kabu) slices, and pickled with a mixture of rice and rice malt."Image- http://www.butta.co.jp/foods/p_kabura...

Tai no karamushi (鯛の唐蒸し)Steamed sea bream with vegetables.

Gori cuisine (ゴリ料理)A kind of fresh water kasago fish caught in the nearby rivers that is usually fried, pickled, made into clear soup, or used to flavor sake.

Jibu-ni (じぶ煮,冶部煮）Perhaps the most well known regional dish is jibu-ni, which is sliced duck meat coated with flour or starch and simmered with fu (dried bread-like pieces of gluten), shiitake, bamboo shoots and green vegatables in a soup made with dashi, mirin, sugar, salt, shoyu and sake. There are some places that may actually serve game duck, but most do not.Image- http://blog-imgs-26.fc2.com/d/o/s/dos...Image- http://sugar.lin.go.jp/recipe0501/ima...

Kaga renkon (加賀れんこん)Local lotus root.

Suzu Salt (能登塩)Salt that is harvested from the beaches of Suzu on the eastern part of the Noto peninsula.

Pickled Fugu Ovary (河豚の卵巣の糠漬け)-The name says it all. Even in Japanese, it sounds wacky. In case you're wondering, yes the ovary does contain large amounts of poison. But through the pickling process- nuka-zuke (rice bran)- the poison is either removed or deactivated. No one actually knows. Below is a wonderful site (in English) dedicated to the dish. The front page has a nice ring to it: "The Miracle of Poison Removal: Pickled Blowfish Ovaries"Link (English)- http://shofu.pref.ishikawa.jp/shofu/d...

------------------------Omi-cho Market (近江町市場)Market homepage link (Japanese)- http://ohmicho-ichiba.com/index.phpMarket guide page link (Japanese)- http://ohmicho-ichiba.com/map/map-kak...------------------------Internet sources have pegged the history of the market between 240-500 years old. Even at the low end, that would be more than three times as old as Tsukiji. At Omicho, over 200 shops provide provisions of all sorts of things, including produce and plenty of pickled things. But of course it's the seafood that is the real draw. I've often had chefs in Japan brag about fish from the Japan Sea as being the best in the world, reasoning that the south to north currents that run through it provide rich and abundant nutrients. I'll be there in December and in winter time, crab, ama ebi, and buri (adult yellowtail) seem to be the most high profile items. But nodoguro, uni, tara (a kind of cod), and anko (monkfish) are also being recommended. I'm most looking forward to enjoying the winter buri (寒ブリ) which is good all over the country but is reknown in Ishikawa Prefecture and the waters off of Noto Peninsula. Buri daikon, buri teriyaki, sashimi, and sushi are some of the standard preperations. I'm hoping to run into a few more different unfamiliar ones as well.

These jokers took it upon themselves to grab a bowl of rice and walk through the market negotiating for sashimi from vendors and eating it right away at a local shrine--> http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=979Bu0e... .

------------------------Sushi------------------------This sushi shop is raved about on Japanese blogs as being on par with any of the top shops in Tokyo-

------------------------Wagashi------------------------Kanazawa is also very well know for Japanese confections and tea treats. I confess that when traveling in Japan, I buy these types of things at the train station shops on my way home.